Once Upon A Dream • K.M.

(1.6) Lights

"Hey, are you feeling any better?" Were Jeremy's first words to Eden as she walked up to him and Professor Saltzman on the morning of the annual Illumination Night. She'd had Professor Saltzman her senior year of high school and while she thought he was a good teacher she could never understand why he spent so much time around students, especially without drawing attention to other adults in the community.

"Yeah, Matt came over last night and we watched movies before turning in." Eden looked to the older male.

"Mr. Saltzman." He stuck his hand out and she shook it.

"Hello again Eden, but please just call me Ric," He looked over at Jeremy. "God knows everybody else does." Eden laughed.

"Hey, sorry I'm late. What did I miss?" Elena walked up to the trio with a smile and Eden hesitated before greeting her back, remembering the lie she told her a few nights back.

"You didn't miss anything." Jeremy said, smiling down at her. The group turned back to Tobias Fell who Eden just noticed had taken the stage.

"Oh my god, that man just doesn't know when to stop." Eden groaned and Jeremy snickered while Ric gave Eden a small smile. A little pause passed between the group before Jeremy laughed again and Eden raised an eyebrow after exchanging a look with Elena, unaware of Anna's presence among the living.

"Wow I didn't think my joke was that funny." Eden murmured.

"What's so funny?" Elena questioned, digging through her bag. Instead of answering, Jeremy gestured towards the stage. All was quiet again until Eden heard Jeremy let out another small laugh. Eden looked over at him, but he wasn't looking at the stage he was looking down at his hand clenching a weird way. Instead of speaking up, Eden excused herself to go search for Matt. When she didn't immediately see him, she spotted Caroline and Bonnie in the corner by a tree, hanging up lanterns. Figuring they might know Matt's location, she walked toward them.

"...but Jeremy still has a direct line to the other side." Bonnie was saying as Eden approached the two girls.

"Other side of what?" She questioned, startling the two. They exchanged a quick look before Caroline stepped forward.

"Oh hey Eden! What's up?" Her eyes flicked between the two of them before deciding to let it go, Caroline had been weird around Eden since her and Matt broke up anyways. Though Eden had a good reason to not Caroline, she tried to stay to stay positive towards the girl, they had been friends after all.

"Have you guys seen Matt? He left his bracelet at my apartment last night." Eden pulled the small leather bracelet out of her bag to show them.

"I think he was at the Grill, you can check there." Bonnie suggested, trying to deter Eden from staying around. Talking about Jeremy to Eden was the same as doing it with Elena and Bonnie just didn't need that. Eden nodded, shoving the bracelet back in her bag.

"Thanks. I'll see you guys around." She waved goodbye and headed towards the Grill. She had just walked across the street when she saw Matt standing beside his truck, looking over at Bonnie and Caroline. Rolling her eyes at the girls' blatant lie, she made her way over to him. When he saw her coming, he smiled brightly before pulling her in for a quick hug.

"You left your bracelet." She said when he put her down, pulling the leather covered jewelry out of her bag. He grabbed it from her before shoving it on his hand.

"Why did you take it off? You promised you wouldn't." She whined playfully, and he laughed. She'd made the little bracelet for him and Vicki when they had a little stint at jewelry designing. It lasted all of two weeks, which was enough time for Eden to make tacky friendship bracelets for the Donovan siblings.